Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD) was having its best post-earnings trading day since the fourth quarter of 2011 after topping estimates and offering an outlook that, even amid rising wing prices, had Wall Street buying.

In recent trading, the Minneapolis-based sports bar owner was gaining 12.5% to $150.53, an advance that turned the stock positive for the year. Prior to the third-quarter earnings that were released after Monday's close, Buffalo Wild Wings was down 9% in 2014. Short covering probably was part of the increase, as Yahoo Finance data indicate nearly 14% of the stock's float is sold short.

Regardless, the climb was a significant turnaround from the second quarter, when traders sold the stock down 13.1% owing to worries over the cost of wings and restaurant staffing. Although wing prices are currently at $1.98 a pound, up 30% from the average cost in the third quarter, Buffalo Wild Wings is hopeful that a pending 3% menu price increase will mitigate both that and higher minimum wages being implemented in some states.

Sally Smith, president and CEO of Buffalo Wild Wings, said that the speed of the recent rise in wing prices was notable, although not entirely unique.

"We were very surprised that they rose quite as quickly. Conversely, we were very surprised at how fast they dropped in the spring," she said. "But you know fluctuating wing prices is something that we have dealt with for years."

This time's not especially worrisome, she said. "If you go back and look at wing price charts, you can see you can have rapid fall-offs, rapid spikes -- you can have gradual spikes. We've tracked this for 11, 12 [or] 13 years, and it's not any different than we've seen in the past."

For the third quarter, revenue rose 18.3% from last year to $373.5 million. Same-store sales were up 6% at company-owned restaurants and 5.7% at franchised stores. Before items, the company earned $1.14 a share. Estimates on FactSet were for sales of $371.6 million, earnings of $1.07 and a same-store sales increase of 5.7% at company locations. Asked whether negative news a few weeks ago around domestic violence in the NFL had any impact on sales, Smith said she didn't think so, saying that the company hadn't seen a decline in business during the important football season.

Buffalo Wild Wings believes earnings will rise more than 28% this year and 18% in 2015. The year ahead, notably, won't have the World Cup, which the company estimates had the most impact in the second quarter, although it did have a slight benefit for the third quarter, as well. A potential concern for shareholders is that higher menu prices will lessen traffic, but in previous instances at least, the company has been able to boost pricing without customers quitting. Still, it will be an issue to watch in future months.

The company and its franchisees are likely to open about 100 new stores in 2015, with further locations also planned for Rusty Taco and PizzaRev, in which Buffalo Wild Wings is invested. Today, there are more than 1,040 Buffalo Wild Wings in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.